"O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do." [Al-maeda ,8]

Karachi – As the chief of Public Accounts Committee and leader of opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is reported to have taken a serious view on the question of allotments of plots in DHA Islamabad, the Transparency International has alleged the Public Procurement Rule’ violation and prayed the Supreme Court for an action, highly placed sources confided to The Daily Mail.
The investigations show that although the case is old yet it requires to be dispensed with soon. However, the DHA authorities have not shown seriousness to remove anomalies, arresting the trend of corruption and stopping forthwith irregularities in the land allocation, appropriation and allotment.
The Transparency International referred to its various letters on alleged violation by DHA Islamabad and finally the complain was made on 5th July 2010 by overseas buyers at the overseas sector of DHA. A reminder was also sent on 14th October by Transparency International Pakistan.
This state of affairs has earned a bad name to the country and its government and allied subordinate organisations. The Transparency and Public Accounts Committee took serious notices of the situation where DHA had failed to clarify the allegations in payment and allotment of plots to the overseas buyers.
It is alleged that DHA has violated the requirement of PPRA Ordinance 2002 and Public Procurement Rules 2004 and DHA Islamabad Ordinance 2005 and 2007 which awarded contracts to M/s Bahria Town and M/s Habib Rafiq Limited worth billions of rupees comprising thousands of acres to M/s Bahria Town and Habib Rafiq Limited 2009 for “DHA Valley and DHA Valley Overseas Block” and contract of HRL on 18th May, 2006 for the development of Phase-I Extension and earth an breaking ceremony was carried out on 6th June. The total area under consideration for development is 1500 acres in Phase-I extension.
The DHA also awarded contracts against rules to M/s J.I.N. Associates Marketing Agency and contract of M/s Meinhardt Pakistan Pvt Limited 2006, for providing consultancy services on development of Phase II DHA did not clarify alleged violations for the reasons known best to the DHA officials.
The TI Pakistan is of the view that DHA Islamabad is blatantly violating the laws which are applicable to DHA Islamabad.
These two laws are very clear: Relevant sources said that DHA Islamabad was established under the Federal Law DHA Islamabad Ordinance 2005 and also controlled by the Ministry of Defence. PPRA Letter to Ministry of Defence, dated 15 June 2009 also confirmed this position which is applicable on DHA Islamabad.
One more violation of law, reported by the complainant, is that though even DHA Islamabad has not been authorised to collect municipal charges, taxes, which is only allowed to the local government of the Cantonment Board, under the laws of Pakistan but DHA has allowed these charges, as maintenance charges to be paid to M/s Bahria Town and M/s Habib Rafique Limited for 25 years.
The sources said, if the investigations were carried out by a credible agency with no political interest thereof, it would certainly lead to massive financial irregularities, nepotism and favoritism at the cost of the national exchequer.

President Musharraf’s capacity to bear indignities, provided he is allowed to retain his office, seems to be unlimited. While he has repeatedly said he is willing to work with the new government, he continues to be conveyed through unambiguous gestures that he is not acceptable to the newcomers.

On Monday he administered oath to federal ministers, nine of whom wore black armbands to indicate they would rather see his back than face. They told the protocol officer they would not stand up on the arrival of the president to slight him. It took the ceremony to be over in seven minutes after which they walked out without shaking hands with him. Earlier on March 24, at the election of the new prime minister, the National Assembly had resounded with slogans of “Go Musharraf, Go” and at Mr Gillani’s oath taking ceremony, attended by military top brass command and foreign diplomatic corps, there were again slogans that made Musharraf squirm.

On Tuesday there was another embarrassment waiting for him. None of the newly appointed cabinet members turned up at 13th Comstech General Assembly, the first international function attended by diplomats from the Islamic countries after take over by the new government to be addressed by Musharraf. As invitations had been duly dispatched to all the ministers this amounted to a calculated boycott. The unmistakable message was, well, we have other important things to do.

As if to give a lie to Rashid Qureshi’s claim that everyone other than Mian Nawaz Sharif was dying to work with Musharraf, all top leaders of the four party alliance boycotted the two oath taking ceremonies. And if this was not enough, he has reportedly been told by Dr Fehmida Mirza that the speaker’s chamber in the parliament under Musharraf’s use since 2005, would no more be available to him.
For full five years Musharraf refused to address the previous National Assembly despite its having been turned into a rubber stamp. He called it ill-mannered because the opposition which was being constantly steam-rollered occasionally resorted to anti-Musharraf slogans. He felt at home in the meetings of a pliant ruling party that he frequently co-chaired. He wielded the COAS baton like the magician’s wand to remove and install prime ministers at will. This is all a dream now. Used to playing with lapdogs Musharraf will have to live with pit bulls.
Majority of those who were administered oath on Monday have been unjustly targeted by Musharraf in the past. The idea had been to change their loyalties through pressure. The prime minister spent five years in jail on false accusations and was honourably acquitted by the court. Navid Qamar spent over a year behind the bars, Ahmad Mukhtar a year and half. Senior Minister Nisar Ali Khan was kept under detention for a year and a half, Ishaq Dar for a similar period, Khwaja Asif for over a year and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for seventeen months. How can Musharraf build up rapport with his victims who have returned to power against his wishes on the basis of a historic verdict?

February elections have brought a seismic change in Pakistan’s politics. Prime Minister Gillani says his relations with the president would be strictly in accordance with the constitution. In other words, the new prime minister would not allow him to make intrusions into his turf as he has been doing in the past. Henceforth the prime minister would deal with Bush, Gordon Brown, Manmohan Singh, Hamid Karzai, Wen Jiabao and others. It is he rather than the president who would address the UN sessions, Davos moots and attend summits. Gone are the foreign junkets and visits abroad to play bridge with friends that cost the national exchequer heavily. The voluntary reduction of expenses of the Prime Minister House by 40 percent is a signal that the presidency too is going to be required to follow suit.
The lawyers have vowed to converge on the Army House after the thirty-day countdown to evict him for being an unauthorised occupant, accusing him of using the premises for conspiracies against the elected government. Their leaders have already accused Musharraf of indulging in games to sabotage the Murree Accord. An unquenchable thirst for power has led Musharraf pocket one insult after another. It remains to be seen if his capacity to take indignities has any limits.

ISLAMABAD: President Supreme Court Bar Association Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday threatened countrywide boycott of the courts if the Supreme Court granted stay against the parliament resolution for the restoration of the pre-November 3, 2007 judiciary.

“The legal fraternity across the country will bring out rallies and stage protest demonstrations if the Supreme Court granted stay, restraining the members of parliament from passing a resolution for the restoration of the November 2, 2007 judiciary”, Ahsan told a hurriedly called press conference at his residence here.

He said that if the apex court granted stay against the parliament resolution, they would place photographs of all those judges responsible for the said stay on the notice boards of all the bar associations across the country. However, he said that not a single photo of the judge would be disfigured and if any photo was disfigured it would be replaced with a fresh one.

“A parliament resolution is required not for the restoration of judiciary of November 2, 2007 but to strengthen the hands of the executive that parliament stands behind the judges who declined to take oath under the PCO of 2007”, Aitzaz maintained.

A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday against the Murree Accord, praying the apex court to restrain the members of both houses of parliament from passing any resolution or enactment through simple majority against the orders passed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Similarly, Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar has called a meeting of the full court of the Supreme Court today (Tuesday) wherein all the judges of the apex court who took oath under the PCO 2007 would participate.

Aitzaz referred to two developments, which took place on Monday, including filing of a petition in the apex court seeking stay against the parliament’s resolution and calling of full court meeting by the PCO court on a short notice.

He wondered why a full court meeting was called in haste. He said that the PCO court had no jurisdiction to interfere in the affairs of parliament, saying judges who took oath under the PCO were not validated by parliament.

“We have been very accommodating and we don’t want any confrontation and had earlier announced that judges who were in the Supreme Court on November 2, 2007 could be restored along with the deposed judges and Justice Dogar should also continue as judge”, he said.

He said that if a stay is granted, they will not ensure flexibility and there will be no space for any judge who took oath under the PCO. “If a stay is granted it will be contrary to the judgments of Supreme Court including the Ahmed Saeed Kirmani case of 1955,the Colnol Farzand Ali case 1970 and the Federal Government Reference of 1973”, he added.

He said that the court has no jurisdiction to interfere in the affairs of parliament and this will be a negation of democratic process. He said the lawyers would wait for 30 days for the new government to restore the deposed judges, and would remain peaceful during this period.

He said they believe in continuing their peaceful movement for the restoration of the judges and the rule of law as they proved earlier when the lawyers remained on roads for hundreds of hour but not a leaf was trampled during their movement.

He said that soon after his release, deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry along with other judges of the superior judiciary would address bar councils across the country as he has been invited to do so.